Michigan State's Branden Dawson drives to the basket against Purdue on Saturday. Dawson finished with a double-double.Mike Mulholland | MLive.com

EAST LANSING - For Tom Izzo, it's a delicate area. In an effort to be sensitive to the major ACL injury and the long offseason recovery for sophomore Branden Dawson, Izzo has been hesitant to push too hard.

Making things more difficult, is Dawson's tendency to bring inconsistent levels of energy. When Dawson comes out flat or appears hesitant around the rim, his coach is left wondering whether it's his knee, or his focus. He can yell at a guy for one, but never for the other.

Izzo decided some motivational tools were in order. He sat down with Dawson and showed him film of last year's Purdue games. Games in which Dawson exemplified the level of energy Izzo was nervously pleading for. With an apparent penchant for playing his home state team, Dawson had done 13-19 for 29 points and 14 rebounds in two games against the Boilermakers last season.

"Me and coach, we watched film from last year when we played at Purdue and here," Dawson said. "And he said, 'Promise me you're going to play like that tomorrow'.

"And I said, 'I promise coach. I'm going to bring that same intensity and that same energy'."

And yet come Saturday, as the Spartans headed to the locker room for halftime, Izzo found himself back in the same situation. Dawson had gone 2-8, failed to rotate quick enough to provide backside help on defense and looked too tired to box out. Again, they returned to the video tape.

"We came in at halftime and coach showed us a couple plays on the TV," Dawson said. "It was a couple plays where I didn't rotate on A.J. Hammons, with helping Nix on the backside, and there were a couple plays where I didn't box out or I didn't run. The main thing he said was for the second half, we just need to burn more energy. And especially myself.

"Coach said, 'Just bring that same intensity you brought last year at Purdue'. So the second half, I just told myself, 'Let's go. It's time to pick it up'. So that's what I did."

Dawson checked in at the scorer's table with 14 minutes to play. He had only four points and three rebounds, and Michigan State's lead was just two. With all the intensity Izzo had asked for, Dawson powered the Spartans through a 35-17 run, making what was a dog fight into a blow out. He finished the night with 14 points and 11 rebounds, just his second double-double of the season.

"The injury has bothered the kid," Izzo said following Michigan State's 84-61 win over the Boilermakers. "He just hasn't come back. Would you say tentative, could have dunked some, could have got up? The second half, I think he just decided to let it go, and I don't think it's physically hindering him, but like a lot of people tell me, there's a mental hinderance to serious injuries like that, and I think B.J. played at a different energy level the second half.

"I was really pleased with him and told him before the game and I told him after the game that that's the way he's got to play. But it's hard to push a guy when you don't know how much is injury, and how much is laziness or inept, and that's a very delicate area for me."

But that's the last time he'll be delicate.

"Coach has been talking about how he's been kind of hesitant if he wants to push me because of my injury and everything," Dawson said after the game. "I just told him, 'Coach, don't slack off me, don't take it easy on me, just keep pushing me.'. I want him yelling at me."